$3 Cambodian Spokeshave

I found this spokeshave sitting in the back of a huge local market. It was in a sketchy-looking hardware store that also had some chisels and wooden hand planes for sale, along with a few farming implements. It looked terrible, but the stall owner (an older lady giving me a skeptical look, as my friend and I were the only foreigners in the place) only wanted $3 for it… sold.

My favorite part is the text “Skill in USA” instead of made in USA :) . I tried tuning it up and giving it a go making some shavings:

It works, but the sole is really convex, despite my flattening efforts, and leaves red paint tracks on the wood. The blade took a fairly good edge after flattening and honing, but it’s really hard to adjust. Maybe not a fine user, but I got a kick out of it for $3 and it makes for a good memory.

I think it is kind of funny that this is made in the US. Our souvenir shops contain mostly items that are made overseas. And here, you went overseas and picked up an item made in the USA. Sorry, I had to chuckle :)

-- There is little that is simple when it comes to making a simple box.

David, it’s definitely not made in the USA. They just wrote something similar to fool people who don’t know any English except for “USA” :) . Most everything for sale there was excess stock from China that couldn’t be sold anywhere else (lots of Angry Birds apparel, for instance).